Region 8 Pilots Bantay Katarungan
16 October 2007
Acting Justice Secretary Agnes VST Devanadera has declared Region 8 as the pilot area for the Bantay Katarungan Program.
The Justice Secretary made the declaration during the two-day Corporate Planning Workshop of the Region 8 National Prosecution Service in Ormoc City which was attended by heads of the prosecution offices in Eastern Visayas, Chief State Prosecutor Jovencito Zuno, Assistant Chief State Prosecutors Miguel Gudio and Pedrito Rances, Witness Protection Program Director Leo Dacera and the Management Services Office on 11 – 12 October 2007. She said she chose region 8 as the pilot area due to the high insurgency rate in the region.
Bantay Katarungan is a program set up to comprehensively address issues on unexplained killings which the United Nations referred to as extrajudicial killings. This program involves intensified coordination among the Department of Justice (DOJ) agencies namely the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), National Prosecution Service (NPS), Public Attorneys' Office (PAO) and the Witness Protection, Security and Benefits Program (WPSBP).
In her dialogue with the NPS regional heads, the justice secretary made an inventory of the unexplained killings in region 8 that reached the prosecution. She directed prosecutors to adhere to Department Order No. 841 she recently issued providing for 60 days to complete investigation and resolution of the cases. These cases include those which suspects or perpetrators are members of the military, police and other law enforcement agencies. She called for the conduct of marathon preliminary investigations and for those pending in court, prosecutors were also directed to give priority to them. She also revealed her plans of meeting with the Supreme Court Administrator to instruct all judges to hold marathon hearings on these cases, too. In region 8, four cases were reported to be pending in court while several others were dismissed by the handling prosecutors after preliminary investigation for lack of probable cause since the police could not present any witness.
In this connection, she has ordered for the strengthening of the regional WPSBP, exhorting prosecutors to be proactive in seeking out witnesses to these cases. She will be authorizing the grant of provisional coverage to high risk witnesses under threat in the meantime that statutory requirements for admission are being processed.
The justice secretary also said that she will be personally monitoring these cases and has vowed for a thorough study and evaluation of each of the cases. She also met with regional heads of the DOJ particularly the NBI and the PAO with regard to the strengthened coordination among the agencies in carrying out this program. She also instructed prosecutors to be present during custodial investigation of possible suspects to ensure that the proper legal procedures are followed and no human rights violations are committed against the accused and to ensure that cases are expedited and the victims accorded the swift and efficient delivery of justice.
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